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Assessing Language Skills as a Predictor of Children's Listening Difficulties: Validation and Reference Data on a New
Xuehan Zhou1,2,3, Harvey Dillon1,3,4, Dani Tomlin2
1Division of Human Communication, Development & Hearing, Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness, School of Health Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Ear and Hearing
|September 1, 2025
Summary
This study introduces the Auditory Cloze test (AudiCloze) as a tool for audiologists to identify language deficits in children with listening difficulties. Strong language skills are essential for understanding speech in noisy environments.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Audiology
- Developmental Psychology
- Speech-Language Pathology
Background:
- Children with normal hearing can struggle with listening in noisy environments.
- Language disorders are a potential cause of these listening difficulties.
- Audiologists need validated tools to screen for language deficits.
Purpose of the Study:
- Establish reference data for the Auditory Cloze test (AudiCloze).
- Examine sex differences in AudiCloze performance.
- Validate AudiCloze against the CELF-5 sentence recall test.
- Correlate language skills with listening abilities in noise and reverberation.
Main Methods:
- 125 primary school children (ages 6-11) with normal hearing participated.
- Children completed the AudiCloze test.
- A subset also completed the CELF-5 sentence recall and the Test of Listening Difficulties-Universal.
Main Results:
- No significant sex differences were found in AudiCloze performance.
- A strong positive correlation (r=0.63) exists between AudiCloze and CELF-5 scores.
- Language skills significantly predicted sentence intelligibility in noise and reverberation (β=0.76).
Conclusions:
- AudiCloze is a validated language assessment tool for audiologists, suitable for children aged six and up.
- Language proficiency is critical for children's ability to understand speech in challenging acoustic conditions.
- Early detection of language deficits can improve outcomes for children needing language support.
